Deeplinks Blog posts about Free Speech

Egypt imprisons Alaa, other pro-democracy bloggers

EFF recently highlighted the case of Alaa Abd El Fattah, one of Egypt’s most influential pro-democracy bloggers, who is now serving fifteen days in jail for refusing to be interrogated by military prosecutors. His supposed crime? Accusing the military of having a direct role in the killing of 27 people during a Coptic Christian protest in October. As the Guardian reported, Alaa’s claim “appears to be supported by extensive witness reports and video footage.”

During the past week, momentum against the House’s draconian copyright bill has gained steam, as venture capitalists, Internet giants and major artists have denounced it for handing corporations unprecedented power to censor countless websites and stifle free speech. In response, the bill’s big-pocketed supporters have gone on the offensive, attempting to mislead the public about the bill’s true reach. In a particularly egregious example, the Chamber of Commerce posted an attack on its website insisting that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is not a “blacklist bill."

In the past week, the larger Internet community has joined EFF in sounding the alarm about the new copyright bill, now known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), as it makes its way through the U.S. House. The bill threatens to transform copyright law, pushing Internet intermediaries—from Facebook to your ISP—to censor whole swaths of the Internet. SOPA could forever alter social networks, stifle innovation and creativity, and destroy jobs, which is why Rep.

On October 27th, board members of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) held a public meeting to discuss the draft of their new cell phone shutdown policy. EFF attended the meeting and presented our recommendations, which would ensure that the final policy complied with the First Amendment and mandated transparency.Encouragingly, the members pledged to adopt many of EFF’s proposed changes.

In early September, EFF was among the first to report on evidence published by activist collective Telecomix that Blue Coat technology was being used by the Syrian government to conduct surveillance. Following a release of more detailed log files as well as a more detailed report from our friends at Global Voices Advocacy, Mother Jones produced a detailed report, followed shortly by other publications. Prominent security expert Bruce Schneier then offered his take, stating: "Bet you anything that the Syrian Blue Coat products are re